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Elwray Basses - First Bolt-on 4 string


Guest Marcoelwray

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This is the Elwray bass built by BCer Marco Elwray who's a recent member here. He's putting in the BC community for trial and review.

It may have been a mistake giving it to me first, but being the first to receive and play it I'm being honest in my appraisal and feedback, in the hope that this can be used to enable Marco to build even better basses (should that read "more suited to me"?) in the future. 

Now Marco, as far as I know, is not a professional builder and, for an early attempt, it's very respectable. As I said, he's given this over to the BC community for review and it's a brave man who would do that. Yes, there are a few bits that niggled at me, we'll see how much they niggle others. Overall I liked this bass - I'm not sure how much Marco would charge you for it - but it felt well built - and easily as good as many custom builds I've owned.

I'll be bringing the Elwray to this weekends SE Bass Bash where you'll be able to play it and make up your own mind.

The bass is a custom made European Walnut and Canadian Maple fretted 4 string with antiqued hardware. It's uniquely designed but at the same time gives a nod of acknowledgement to Euro builders who have gone before him. I'm sure it will remind us all, in a small way, of something we've seen before.

Marco is clearly happy to have the Bass critiqued, I don't think that mine amount to much really but here goes.

What I liked:
Aesthetically the bass is very friendly to the eye, reminiscent of some other high end European basses. The slim body (reduced weight) helps with the balance and feel on the strap. I'm not sure of the weight but I suspect about 4-4.5kg?? This made playing problem free - walnut can be heavy, but not with this.The timbers used are, again, very pleasing on the eye and I really like the European Walnut (IMO much nicer than the American on this occasion). I don't understand why we don't see it being used more.

I liked the antiqued parts. The bridge felt very stable and sturdy and compliments the Schaller tuners very well. On this, the antique look works better, in my opinion, than chrome or gold would have and helps the overall look.

There are some really nice design features on this, I especially like how the neck (swallow effect) finishes above the Jazz neck pick up. The satin finish on the body and neck is excellent - my favourite finish - and made the bass feel expensive and classy.

I'm not sure what the pick ups are (Marco?) but they're operated by a 3 way toggle switch which I suspect means each of the twins on the humbucker and then the jazz neck alone. Nice tonal palette and there's something in there for nearly everybody.

The fit and finish on this are probably around the 98% mark - something Marco acknowledges with his accompanying letter - really just a few little bits which would take a few hours to get this up to top standards.

What niggled me:

Neck:
The profile of the neck was too flat for me - I prefer a rounder, classic jazz profile C neck. The profile on this reminded me of the Mike Walsh Zoot bass I used to own, and though it didn't take too long to adapt it's not my profile of choice. That's just a personal thing - I know that others may not see this as an issue. I found the profile around the 5th to 9th frets most to my taste but above the 12th, the flatness really showed. My favourite necks are on SGC Bass Collection Nanyo basses. If you don't or haven't owned one, borrow one check the profile.

Nut:
You can probably see this, the nut sits a bit too high which raises the playing action. Lowering the nut by a few mm would make the bass much more playable (for me). It may suit somebody who plays with a plectrum better - so I'm hoping others will not be bothered by this a give a better review.

Headstock: 
For me, it looks a bit too long for the instrument - maybe an inch and a half? - I felt it should finish on the curve just above the D tuner - which, to me, would be more aesthetically pleasing. I think that, because the body has soft curves, the headstock would have benefited from being more contoured.

Styling:
Some parts of the body feel really nice, smooth and exotic but the lower horn, for instance, has curves which don't really match and I felt that this detracted from the bass. Not something that would bother most and this could easily be rectified in this and any future builds.

Would I buy one? Not this one but I would certainly think about commissioning one, following a detailed discussion, with my specs. As I said, I like this bass and it wouldn't take much to bring this into the "very desirable" league. Marco clearly has a very promising future as a Bass Builder.

If you're interested in trialling the bass for a while add your details to the list - all you need to do is wait patiently for it to arrive near you and give it a review when you're done. Seems more than fair to me.

Mick

 

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Guest Marcoelwray

Maybe, it could be easy to separate the feedbacks in a new thread, as I mentioned before, like in "Basses" section? This Way it could be only dedicated to one bass not on my overall work. You'll decide, I'm not the boss. @Silvia Bluejay ??

Regarding the very Pleasant and complete review of Mick (thank you so much); here's what I have to say about it:

- This is my lightest bass builded. 3.8Kg, it's written on the first post I think...

- In the first place I was supposed to go for black hardware, but I had to try this superb finish… Can't tell if it's the more appropriate in this case… Maybe gold… 

- I packed this in a bit of a rush, so, yes I should attach a schema with the bass… controls are simple; one ON/OFF switch by pickup, and one 3-way toggle for series/single/parallel modes for the humbucker. Speaking of humbucker, this is not really one, it's a quad-coil Delano DJC4 HE/M2 with a Delano JC 4 AL on the neck (double coil in a SG format). Electronic is passive with CTS pots, Mustard I-Don't-Know-What Capacitor and a switchcraft jack barrel. Tone and Vol.

- For the neck, I have to admit that it fits my personal tastes. I really like this fat neck going flat in the highs, but I can understand it could be quite confusing.

- If I'm not mistaken, the nut is adjustable… If it's at its lower position, my bad, I can modify it, it's Wengé. But there's two little allen screws in it.

- For the lower horn, it supposed to be a little different, but I use a stupid way of construction that made it really thin. If you take a look at my first one (fretless 5 strings), it should be like that.

- FYI, finish is oiled and waxed. I like this finish for the back of the necks too.

Thanks a lot for your review Mick @TheGreek, means a lot to me. Every word is taken as an advice to help me to go further. 

Just a question, for a passive bass (I didn't personnaly own enough basses to compare), I think the output is quite high. Opinion on this?

Edited by Marcoelwray
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Guest Marcoelwray
2 minutes ago, Silvia Bluejay said:

Yes, I agree that a separate thread would be needed for the actual reviews, as opposed to the discussion. I am creating a new thread under Bass Guitars and will copy Mick's review there.

Thanks, Maybe it should appropriate to remind the specs as a first post? It's on the first page of this thread...

Thanks!

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  • 2 months later...

Good video, @Marcoelwray .  Sounds great!

What I like particularly about the video is that you get a much better view of the totality and interaction of the shapes and features than in just still photos.

I like the bass as a whole but there are some features I particularly like.

You mentioned it is light - have you weighed it yet?

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Guest Marcoelwray

I'm thinking about making another one....

But I want to make a 5 strings broadneck fretless .... Is that making any sense? @Henrythe8  Henry, don't know if you're a huge fan of fretless... But your opinion on this setup could be useful

It's already drawn, ready, it sould cost me about 420€ of wood.

Neck will be 5 pieces Maple/Wengé, body 20mm back in Maple, 10mm wengé middle and a flamed maple top (10mm).... Fretboard in Ebony, lined fretless of course...

I will think about it... It's probably one more bass I'll never sell...

Edited by Marcoelwray
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On 13/12/2018 at 15:03, Marcoelwray said:

But I want to make a 5 strings broadneck fretless .... Is that making any sense?@Henrythe8

 

Is there any sense in making a thinneck fretless? P-bass nut and 19 mm bridge widths, please.

So, I want even string width to all my basses, no matter how many strings there are. I do not understand what is behind this tight string spacing thing. It is not comfortable in any way and it just makes me think the fretboard over again when changing basses. Why on earth / Pourquoi / Vad i helvete / Mitä helvettiä?

Shouldn't you just build evenly spread strings to all of your basses and offer the thin neck as an extra option and for very special extra price? Quelque chose très cher, n'est-ce pas?

(Monsieur: no fretboard markers, no fretlines, please! They are not usable anyway.)

Edited by itu
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On 09/12/2018 at 21:01, Marcoelwray said:

@Bridgehouse @Hellzero hey fans of fretless! I finally refinished this prototype, take off the awful fretting, now it's a nice 34" scale high C fretless. With a REAL 16" radius. Not finished but it seems to play flawless so far...

IMG_20181209_203544.jpg

 

Wonderful profile. I’m not a modern single cut fan but that shape is GORGEOUS! The scoop out where most builders have a but bulbous upper bout is so, so sleek. I’d genuinely say that’s the nicest single cut shape I’ve seen yet!

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Guest Marcoelwray
11 hours ago, itu said:

Is there any sense in making a thinneck fretless? P-bass nut and 19 mm bridge widths, please.

So, I want even string width to all my basses, no matter how many strings there are. I do not understand what is behind this tight string spacing thing. It is not comfortable in any way and it just makes me think the fretboard over again when changing basses. Why on earth / Pourquoi / Vad i helvete / Mitä helvettiä?

Shouldn't you just build evenly spread strings to all of your basses and offer the thin neck as an extra option and for very special extra price? Quelque chose très cher, n'est-ce pas?

(Monsieur: no fretboard markers, no fretlines, please! They are not usable anyway.)

Thank you for your opinion. I didn't understand the half of your message though. Maybe you could try English?

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Guest Marcoelwray

@Andyjr1515 tell me about your prices of wood....

I work only with a French supplier. I give me good quotes, at least better than prices on website.

For a full bass, maple body, Wengé veneers, flamed maple top (2nd choice) and flamed maple neck, Amaranth fretboard and some stuff I paid 470 euros

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6 hours ago, Marcoelwray said:

@Andyjr1515 tell me about your prices of wood....

I work only with a French supplier. I give me good quotes, at least better than prices on website.

For a full bass, maple body, Wengé veneers, flamed maple top (2nd choice) and flamed maple neck, Amaranth fretboard and some stuff I paid 470 euros

Clearly it varies, but I would say similar prices to you for decent quality woods.  

For this recent build with amboyna top, maple/purpleheart/mahogany neck, Macassar fretboard, wenge veneer, it was around £400 for the raw timber.  And that was using some free-gifted oak for the back wings:

_MG_4844.thumb.JPG.0bcc39e03fcb4eae77fbc25cdaa5d589.JPG

Looking at my recent bass builds, the raw timber costs vary between around £350 to £450

I've picked up some decent cheaper timbers for the rear wings in the past - reclaimed mahogany rejected by a flooring company, oak from an old mantlepiece, etc, but I don't risk unknown sources for neck timber and decent bookmatched (or bookmatchable) woods for a top are eye-wateringly expensive pretty much wherever you get them.  Occasionally you see a bargain but not often...

So, as I say, pretty similar to your estimate... 

 

 

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Guest Marcoelwray

Thanks! At least I have something to compare.

I looked for used woods but so far nothing interesting.... 

Thing is that my wood supplier make all pieces to my custom dimensions free of charge. I'm not a big customer so I think it's really appreciable he give me such opportunity because I have not the gear to cut big pieces of wood. So I see that it's in the right prices.

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